WoWGrrl's World

I've got two World of Warcraft accounts. Don't ask why... I just do.

Partially because I wanted to be able to Enchant my own gear - so when I set up the second account, I transferred my 70 Hunter to that account, and kept the rest of the "family" together in the original account.

Another thing I wanted to be able to do, however, was run my own toons through lowbie instances in order to speed the process of gearing up, and leveling a bit as well.

I had a reader ask me to write more about the process of running my Lowbies through instances since they recently got a second family account, so I thought I'd start here, and further questions on the topic could help inspire more detailed entries on the topic :)

But before I talk about dungeon run-throughs which can, if used incorrectly, lead to one having such a poor understanding of group dynamics and appropriate class skills that I refuse to give run-throughs to guildmates who are otherwise strangers... let me say this:

All My Toons PUG

I used to abhor pick-up groups, and was happy to join a guild that ran regular instances so at least the social pressures inherent in staying in guilds would lessen the possibility of having a completely horrid experience every time I went into a dungeon.

But, as I got higher level with my first character and got more familiar with the game itself, I progressed into doing PUGs more often, and at a point, even preferred PUGging with *complete and utter strangers* instead of going in with my casual/social guild's guildmates because while they were nice people, they had no clue how to behave in an instance party, having been afraid to PUG themselves while they leveled up to 70 and thus having largely "solo" skills and manners which translate poorly in a party situation (where Crowd Control requires cooperation for one thing).

So, right from Ragefire Chasm in the teens on up, all of my lowbie toons get into Pick Up Groups on their way through the various levels that lead to level cap. I consider it an important part of learning my class skills, since soloing offers only a small challenge in comparison, and running with friends all the time means I don't "really" have to learn key skills for my class. Also, PvP while also highly beneficial, teaches different skills than PvE.

And yes, as a noter inquired, I do have aspirations to take all of my toons into Heroics and be able to hold my own, and make friends with other mature folks who are solid at their class and doing Heroics. The Heroics Divide of player skill and attitude is astounding and I like to challenge myself to be a player that those in the most progressed guilds consider to be "good" despite my non-raiding status.

So Why Run Myself Through Things?

PUGs are fine and dandy, but we all know they can be aggravating at times, and the competition for gear is only one aspect that adds to the aggravation - like the Maraudon run I healed in my mid-40s where one Mage got 4 blue BOP upgrades and didn't once think to politely pass some gear to the healer, who was also in need of upgrades, but for whom the Roll Gods weren't enamoured about that night.

Another reason to run myself through things is just for the sheer fun of it. I like this game - all aspects of it. I like to challenge myself, and I like to feel powerful as well. And sometimes, the best way to learn your way around an instance is to (be dead and running back a lot or) be able to walk into it and decimate everything you see.

Thoughts While Running My Lowbies

I don't think I have any hard-and-fast rule about when I'll run my lowbies, aside from this one thing:

If my Lowbie has 100% rest bonus, it's time to do a run-through to burn some of that rest bonus off and allow it to resume accumulating again.

If any of my toons have burned off all of its rest bonus, it gets parked in some format - sent to the city to work on professions or do some battlegrounding for a week or so while getting plenty of ZZzz's and adding up that rest bonus. There are, after all, other toons with rest bonus to burn.

When it comes time to do the instance, I have two computers running, and I'll log into both and as long as my toon isn't super-low for the instance, I'll put the lowbie on follow to my high-level, and put the looting on Free For All, and then just go and mow the place down. If the lowbie gets aggro, sometimes I'll leave it behind and gather up mobs then bring the mobs within exp range of the lowbie before I mow them all down.

If my inventory gets full, I'll trade with my lowbie and hand her whatever junk I need to hand her to clear spots to pick up more loot.

If there's BOP equipment that would be best picked up by my lowbie, the confirmation about binding message comes up even on Free For All looting, and I have a chance to cancel on the DPS toon and go loot the corpse with my lowbie instead.

The Class For The Run-Throughs

... is definitely my Mage. Partially because he's better geared, but mainly because he does AOE (area of effect) damage, and with the right spec, can gather up a lot of mobs, freeze 'em in place and then AOE them down with minimal impact on me, myself.

Of course, running Stratholme for the Piccolo of the Burning Flame over and over definitely helped improve my Mage AOE instance farming skills, but I often experienced a lot of pain during those pulls, dying a few times each attempt to get the trinket, and taking heavy damage even when I didn't die.

But as I said, it's all fun :)

Related posts:

1. How Geared Is Geared Enough; Levelling The Lowbies
2. Burning Off Lowbie Rest Bonus – Paladin
3. Mounts, Distraction, Outlands Questing Team, Outlands Instances